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Aw, you're gonna ask me a lot of questions? lol. My favorite entries to write are usually the ones that click in my mind right away, sometimes even as someone first requests them! I don't have a favorite number to do, although there's certainly a different dynamic between single and double entries... or triple, or quadruple entries like today's.

I love using odd or unpopular Pokemon, if only because they have less fandom baggage around them. Any Pokemon that has a big showing in fan or official works, such as Pikachu, Eevee, and even Emolga a little while back, I feel like I have to investigate and think harder on them to work outside of that baggage. Or even with it sometimes, but I always try to make sure it's my own spin on things. A Pokemon that isn't as popular gives me more freedom in what to do, plus a drive to make them just as great as the rest.

I think the kind of entry I like least would be the ones where the Pokedex entry flavor texts are nearly identical in every game and it's something bland and factual (like being able to fly at such and such speed, or lift this much weight). That's just not much to work with in building a plot and character. But since I mean to cover them all, I can't really avoid those really boring ones.

Today's entry marks the completion of my starter Pokemon category! Yay! Although I had to throw in two others to make the idea I wanted work, but that was fun. It's also the first time I've used the Black 2 and White 2 entries, and I used three!

“What do you want?” the Prinplup at the door asked. She looked at him suspiciously. “We deal harshly with traveling salesmons, you know.”

The Pignite nodded. “I know, but I'm not here selling things. I'm an explorer and I'm looking for the leader of this village to answer some questions.”

Pulling a fin up and raising her head, she said, “Well there's no need for you to go looking for the so-called leader. I'm the one you'd want to talk to; the rest are all worthless. What is it?”

He gave her a skeptical look, but didn't say anything this time. “I'm looking for the entrance to the Arctic Palace for an important mission. Do you know where it is?”

The Prinplup sniffed. “Why would you care about that place? It's an old empty shell only inhabited by crazy Pokemon. You can't even recruit them to get them properly civilized, I hear. But I do know some great dungeons to explore, if you'll willing to follow me into them.”

“Nah, I'm only interested in the Arctic Palace,” he said, shaking his head. “Thanks anyhow, m'am.”

She rolled her eyes and slammed the door on her igloo.

This time, the dead end didn't bother him much. It'd been happening all too much in the past couple of days. The first few times, he'd taken up the Prinplups' offers of going into other dungeons in hopes they would spill the info he actually wanted. But they were all proud creatures and were easily provoked into being hostile. Was it a cultural thing? Somebody needed to get the Piplups into a warmer community to break that cycle.

The Pignite explorer shrugged and walked off to the next igloo, getting an apple to snack on. Although this was a village, all of the snow-built homes were quite far apart. But given the attitude that many of them were sporting, it made sense. If any of these Prinplups met, he'd bet that they'd be fighting within minutes.

At the next igloo, he got pretty much the same deal. The Prinplup there thought that he had been sent by one of his neighbors as an enemy, then said that he was the most important one in the village but not the leader. He offered to take the Pginite to a secret dungeon that was not the Arctic Palace (but one that he had been in just yesterday evening), and told him to get lost when the offer was declined. At this point, the explorer was thinking that he and his partner would be best off just scouting the area around the palace dungeon to find the way inside. Maybe even making a new entrance; his inner fires were burning strong thanks to his ample supplies, but they might need the firepower inside more.

He heard some upbeat music, which was odd considering the chilly atmosphere of this place. Following it, he came upon a snow structure that was much like a storefront booth, with the shopkeeper's home and storage behind it in the main structure. On one of the snow counters, there was a strange gray and black device from which the music came from. The two shopkeepers weren't Prinplups, thankfully. They were a Seel and a Spheal, passing time by dancing to the music.

The Seel noticed him first and lifted up a white flipper to wave. “Ah, good afternoon, dear traveler! Welcome to our Kecleon Shop!”

Stopping his spinning in place, the speckled Spheal noticing him and smiled. “Welcome!”

The Pignite couldn't keep from smiling. “Good afternoon. I notice that your Kecleon Shop is strangely short on lizards.”

“Lizard!” the Spheal said.

Laughing, the Seel said, “We're a franchise, see. It took some convincing, but we got the connection. I'm Macy and this would be Will. May we help you with anything on this wonderful day?”

“Help?” Will echoed.

They were already more helpful than the Prinplups. He tapped his head as a sign of respect. “It is nicer than other days, but it's still really cold.”

“But that's what makes it so wonderful,” Macy said cheerily, dancing a bit more to the music.

“Wonderful!” Will said, clapping his fins together with a big grin.

“I suppose I should have expected so much,” he said with a chuckle. “If you could help, that'd be great, but I'd take some extra goods if not. I'm Blaine, an explorer from the south. I'm doing some important research for my guild, and if that radio is any indication,” he pointed to the music device, “then you may know something of use to me. First, I'd like to know if you know the leader of the village.”

“Don't see the leader,” Will said, surprisingly not echoing this time.

Macy nodded. “Right, that won't do you any more good than seeing the villagers. He's an Empoleon and he's very stubborn. Mad most of the time too because the Prinplups don't give him the respect he believes that he is due.”

“No respect.”

Blaine glanced around, thinking. “Is that so? Why are they all here? They don't seem to get along.”

The Seel slid closer and put her flippers up on the counter. “They're supposed to be protecting something around here, but I think that they've forgotten what over the generations. They've created this legacy of pride and suspicion that makes them not even trust each other. Really, the only reason we're going great business here is that they would rather buy from those outside their clan than to support a rival among their own.”

“I think the village will break up soon,” Will said. “Then we'll invite other Pokemon to move in and make this a great town.”

Macy nodded. “Yeah, that's the plan.”

Feeling impressed at these two, he bowed his head. “Well best of luck in that venture. This area could use a reliable town and this would be the best spot to have it.”

“Oh yes it's great! We have the icy ocean to swim in and hunt for fish, and we have four major roads that all pass through here, and the glaciers keep away the worst gales and storms. I go swimming every morning and evening... oh, sorry, I don't mean to prattle,” Macy laughed at herself, in a great mood.

“No problem,” Blaine said. “The friendly chatter is better than what I'm getting elsewhere. And since I can't trust these Prinplups for information, do you know the way into the Arctic Palace? It's supposedly a human ruins, and you have a human device here.”

“Oh yeah, but we got the radio from some traders,” Macy said, looking at it. “Along with the music discs; sorry. But you know what? I think that the entrance to the Arctic Palace is elsewhere, in another dungeon.”

“Elsewhere,” Will echoed.

Blaine rubbed his chin. “That would make sense. Any ideas on where?”

“Will?” Macy asked, then glanced up at Blaine. “Don't worry; he's actually really smart, the one who came up with our plan. He just likes to be playful.”

The Spheal rolled around, going under the counter and emerging out in front of the stall. “I hear some things from local explorers,” he said. “None of them are that great, but some speak of the dungeon known as Glacier Gate. It is a puzzle dungeon, and several teams have solved the puzzle hoping for treasure. Instead, they found an extensive tunnel that heads to the north, then enters a massive dungeon that is thought to be the most difficult one in the area. Glacier Gate is directly south of the Arctic Palace, and the tunnel is straight.”

“Glacier Gate, huh? It sounds like a strong possibility. Could you show me where it is?”

“Get map!” Will said, rolling to Blaine's other side.

“We do have maps of the area on sale,” Macy said. “Cheap too, at ten Poke.”

“That would be helpful,” he said. And rather like shopkeepers, giving him a lead but then asking him to buy the item needed to follow up on it. However, it wasn't that bad. “While I'm buying stuff, can you get me a dozen apples and two dozen berries? I don't mind most berries, so it can be a mix of what you have in stock.”

“Wow, you feed an army?” Will asked jokingly.

“Just myself,” Blaine said. He slapped his stomach. “In a cold place like this, I need to keep my inner fires going strong.”

“Of course,” Macy said. “Well thanks to the franchise, we have a great inventory. Let me go in back and get our berries.”

After getting the goods, including a map, he was able to get Will to point out the locations of Arctic Palace and Glacier Gate. It was much as he said: the Gate was directly south of the Palace and while the tunnel had to be long, it was a dungeon arrangement that he saw occasionally. The Spheal then offered to show him the house of the Empoleon leader anyhow on his way out of the village. Since it might be helpful later on, Blaine agreed and said goodbye to Macy the Seel, then followed the rolling Spheal to the east.

The igloo that the leader lived in was built on top of a large mound of snow. While it wasn't any bigger than the others, it was certainly higher. Will explained that each generation of leaders tried to make the mound higher, but few thought to make it bigger so the houses had gotten smaller. A village law prevented others from making their house higher than the leader's.

While they were there talking, a Prinplup came up to them. “Hey, what are you doing talking to that idiot?” she asked. “You're not going to learn anything useful from him.”

“Hey!” Will said, smiling.

“Well he's been kind,” Blaine said. “But if you do know anything useful about the Arctic Palace dungeon, I'd love to hear about it.”

“Hear, hear!”

“Forget about Arctic Palace,” the Prinplup said, shaking her head. “It's much too much work for too little rewards.”

“Work?” Will looked between them.

Blaine nodded. “Ah, then it must be something for better teams than those I've seen around here. Me and my partner should do just fine.”

“Just fine,” Will said in agreement.

That made her furious. “What, are you calling me weak? I am the most vital member of this community and saying something like that is nothing less than a challenge. You will battle, now!”

He put his ebony hoofed paw to his chin as Will rolled out of the way. “You think that I didn't come up to the arctic prepared for such a possibility?” He accepted her challenge to battle and quickly had her defeated. When she fell unconscious and he was certain she wasn't faking, Blaine turned to the Spheal shopkeeper. “I suppose it might be good to stay away. A real shame, as the supplies would be good.”

However, Will laughed and clapped his fins. “No worries! The others will hear that she got defeated by a Fire Pokemon and be more disgusted at her than you. You may get another challenge if you do come, but that is no issue, I see. You and your team would be most welcome to our shop anytime! Good luck in your travels.”

Smiling, he bowed his head. “Thank you. I'm going to meet up with my partner to review what we've both found, but we will probably be back to stock up before the dungeon runs. Enjoy your cold weather.”

“Most certainly.” Will then rolled back to his shop while Blaine left town to find his exploring partner. Glacier Gate was certainly the most promising lead on Arctic Palace he'd found yet.

…

Pignite B2/W2 entry: The more it eats, the more fuel it has to make the fire in its stomach stronger. This fills it with even more power.

Prinplup Diamond entry: It lives alone, away from others. Apparently, every one of them believes it is the most important.

Seel B2/W2 entry: The colder it gets, the better it feels. It joyfully swims around oceans so cold that they are filled with floating ice.

Spheal B2/W2 entry: They can't swim well yet, and they move much faster by rolling. When they're happy, they clap fins.

Pokedex OS- Still trying to capture every single Pokemon out there in words: 648/718 Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh complete!

'Trading Pokemon'... 'Feeding Pokemon'... 'General Care of Pokemon'... 'Troubleshooting a Pokeball'... nothing, there was nothing in the Official Pokemon Trainer's Handbook about this. Not that I was expecting there to be anything, but there had been hope for some advice. Even just a recommendation of another book or resource. Of course, if someone had told me this had happened to someone else, I wouldn't have believed them. It had all been an accident, but it just seemed too stupid to happen. But in the middle of it, the idiocy or not of it was the least of my concerns.

Next to me on the generic blue couch of the Pokecenter, Alora was sitting as a pile of blue goo, her face against the cushion. She wasn't even trying to look like the doll she often seemed to be, or floating in the air. It was a little surprising to me that she had the awareness to be upset about this. But maybe it shouldn't be. Evolving into a Reuniclus had made her behave in a more intelligent manner. She was a Pokemon, though, and it always seemed like they were lesser than human. Anyone who claimed otherwise was a bleeding heart romantic. But seeing her like this, I was starting to wonder.

Pokemon work for humans. You just see it everywhere that you don't think it's maybe they work with us. They work on constructing buildings, they move things for us, they fight for us, they act silly for our amusement... and they don't demand much in return. Food, shelter, water, and love. Such a vague word, love. They say that the best Trainers are the ones who show the most love for their Pokemon, but then they never say what a loving Trainer does. For much of my life, I thought it was just words, and that there was some secret method that the best Trainers kept to themselves. But maybe those who truly love their Pokemon notice sooner who their Pokemon are, what kind of individuals they are.

Time seems to drag on, but the nurse on duty at the front desk eventually called my name. “You can go back to meet with your Slowbro and the doctor, in room 225, up the elevator.”

“Okay, thanks,” I called back. Then I looked down and saw the goo pile quiver. “Come on, Alora.”

“Mmmmmm,”she replies, muffled by the couch. Not wanting leave her by herself, I picked her up as best I could. Holding a Reuniclus is a bit like holding thick gelatin, as their true body is covered in a deep layer of a translucent blue substance. And since she was too upset to use telekinesis, her whole body was limp. Fortunately she stayed in one piece, so I was able to balance her on my hip while I opened doors and worked the elevator panel.

In room 225, I found Harold sprawled out on a raised bed. The strange gray Shellder that was clamped onto his tail had its eyes closed, resting on its own pillow. The Slowbro himself raised his head on seeing me enter, even though the majority of it was wrapped up in a cast. Waving a paw at me, more languid than usual, he called out, “Yaaaaaaaaaa.”

The doctor put a hand on Harold's shoulder to restrain him from getting up. “He's going to recover, but I'm afraid there might be brain damage we haven't been able to detect yet. He could have problems late on, so I have to put a flag on his registry that he's not allowed to participate in Pokemon battles for a year. He should be reviewed after that, but that flag may become permanent.”

I nodded. “Okay.” What should I do about that, I wondered I never thought I'd be taking care of a Pokemon that was incapable of battling.

“I have to put a similar flag on your Reuniclus for causing this,” the doctor added, causing Alora to shudder. “But that one will have to be contested in court if it is to be removed after a year. Sorry, but a Pokemon who causes this kind of damage to another is legally a problem.”

“I'm sure it wasn't intentional,” I said, thinking about how she'd been ever since I had to make the emergency call for Harold. “She has this habit of telekinetically pinching the ear of a person she wants attention from.” And she could pinch harder if ignored further. That's how I think it escalated to crushing his skull. She really couldn't have meant to do that and just misjudged her strength.

“Due to the influence of the Shellder, a Slowbro is incapable of feeling pain,” the doctor said. “And they seem to have a drastically reduced sense of touch as well. We have to inject paralyzers into him to keep him in place to heal, and even then I've seen one wander off when badly injured. Even so, we can't have her in battle again.”

I was at a loss then. Winning the Pokemon League challenge had been a dream of mine for years. For a while, it was tempting for me to try giving Alora and Harold away so that I could continue. There were wild Pokemon all over the place. I even knew where to hunt down a Solosis and Slowpoke to replace them with; training new ones up would be faster than waiting on a year for these two.

But, these were my Pokemon. Harold watched me, his yellow eyes peering through the cast asking me why he was being made to stay inside instead of going out to play or sleep. And Alora had her face buried in my side, quivering and not wanting to face what she had done on accident. That day, they no longer seemed like any other Slowbro and Reuniclus out in the world. They were Harold and Alora... Pokemon that depended on me. They loved me, and sought out my love in return.

That evening, I went to the front desk and asked the nurse to take my name off the Pokemon League registry. Harold needed watching after in case something had gotten messed up in his brain. Alora needed comfort and reassuring that she was still a good Pokemon. And I needed to focus on meeting both of their needs.

…

Reuniclus B2/W2 entry: They use psychic power to control their arms, which are made of a special liquid. They can crush boulders psychically.

Slowbro Soul Silver entry: Naturally dull to begin with, it lost its ability to feel pain due to Shellder's seeping poison.

Pokedex OS- Still trying to capture every single Pokemon out there in words: 648/718 Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh complete!

This looks like an interesting idea. Typical I first notice something like this when you're 500 pokemon in. Since it's so massive, I'll just review this latest one and read up on the earlier ones without reviewing.

Fairly dark, but I like how much sense this one shot makes. It seems like something that logically happen. I like how you give Alora personality by giving her little quirks like telekinetically pinching ears and how clearly you show she's sorry about what she's done.

When a desperately outgunned criminal underworld make a plan to save themselves from the authorities, they awaken something that should have stayed asleep. It's up to three ordinary trainers to save Unova from this new threat.

A fanfic coming to Serebii soon!

Preview Quote: “Since Team Plasma broke up eight years ago, Unova has had nothing but peace and prosperity, which is good for the average man, but it means that the authorities have more time and attention to focus on us. Time is running out; in another year we could all be in prison. We need a weapon. A weapon powerful enough that mere policemen and even Gym Leaders can't stop us."

Bess like to contemplate things. There was a lot to think about: the universe, the nature of the gods, the weather, the plants, the rocks, the seas, the Pokemon, and more. When she worked on one philosophical problem, it often lead to dozens of others, a whole web of knowledge and wisdom to consider. She listened to the masters, experts, and scholars, absorbing what they knew and thought. She had read many books and scrolls, often thinking and learning through the night and day. One day, maybe they'd call her a sage.

For now, though, she was being hurled through the air. She knocked into a wild Lopunny. As a Nosspass, it didn't hurt her much, but it knocked out the other Pokemon. Bess tumbled back onto the ground, whirling about until she was back on her feet with her long nose pointed north. After having been thrown like this hundreds of times, she could do this unerringly, without wasting energy in moving too much. She took a momentary break from her thoughts and looked over the wild Pokemon there. Still alert were a Spearow and a Roselia. She lifted a red arm and summoned a mass of rocky spikes to burst from the ground, knocking out the former. For the latter, she just waited.

Moments later, a Pinsir burst into the forest opening. “Back off, petalhead!” she shouted, twisting her body so that one of her pincers caught hold of the Roselia's leafy hand. Then she clamped down and ripped out a large portion of the petals. Shrieking, the wild Roselia bolted from the field to hide in the trees. The Pinsir laughed heartily. “Ha ha, and a coward too? Not that I'd blame you. All of you should be afraid of Tess the mighty!” Then she took a few steps to face Bess. “You doing all right? It's been quite a dungeon.”

Bess saluted with her right arm. She was fine. Besides, as usual Tess had done much of the fighting.

“Good, then let's keep at it. We'll get to the depths of this place by nightfall, I feel it!” Then she picked up the Nosepass in her pincers and began carrying her over her head. Bess wasn't afraid or bothered by this. This was how they always explored dungeons.

As they went on, Bess thought about the dungeon, only taking a break when Tess had thrown her into battle and her skills were needed to take out threats to her partner. But here in Mystery Jungle, there were far more threats to her with all the Grass Pokemon around. Tess was having a field day. Yes, she took to every exploration with enthusiasm, but forests were her favorite. And a special forest dungeon like this, where the entrance was hidden with a password spoken to a particular tree, the Pinsir was bound to be louder and more boastful than normal as she was so happy.

Mystery Jungle... this was said to be the home of Mew, a legendary Pokemon that may have had a hand in creating all normal Pokemon like themselves. The password to this place hadn't been that hard for them to uncover. In fact, it had come from a traveler who stopped in the local cafe; he said that it was passed from person to person with surprising frequency. Finding the particular tree had taken some hunting and observation, but wasn't too hard. However, it was said that very few actually met with Mew here. Maybe this wasn't the legend's home. Or maybe the legend was better at hiding.

And things might be better off if such legends continued to be elusive and hide. These Pokemon were so powerful that they could make miracles happen. When they did something, everyone around them was affected; sometimes even Pokemon far away were affected. If they demanded tributes and absolute obedience, most normal Pokemon would not be able to fight for their freedom to choose. Their immediate presence would also lower the efforts and will of normal Pokemon. After all, if there was a problem, all they would have to do is go to the legendary Pokemon and ask for a miracle to solve it. Without that easy way out, Pokemon could develop the will, persistence, and talents to solve their own issues. Even if the issue at hand was meeting with a legendary Pokemon just for the novelty of it.

Bess found herself being hurled at another wild Pokemon, this time a Sceptile which was promptly knocked out. When she looked at the Pokemon there, she noticed there was already a battle going on. Some were wearing bags attached to belts, sashes, and headbands, all signs of civilized Pokemon. There was quite a group of them, but they looked much worse off than herself and Tess. It must have been a hard dungeon for them.

Tess rushed into the room and knocked out a second Sceptile, breaking up the pressure on the other group. Once they had taken out their last foe, the first team looked over the Pinsir cautiously. “Thanks, but who are you?” a Medicham asked. From the medal around his neck, he was the leader of the five of them.

Pounding on her chest with two arms, she said, “I'm Tess, and this is my bess friend Bess, and we're the amazing Team Huntress! Glad to help; who are you bunch?”

“We're part of the Golden Guild, which doesn't split up into smaller teams,” the Medicham said. “As long as you're not a band of thieves.”

“Of course not,” Tess said cheerily. “Need any help with anything else? We got time and energy to spare.”

He shook his head. “No, we're out of time ourselves, just waiting on a clear room to get out of here. We've been on this level for nearly a full day, trying to find the gateway to the next area. But there's nothing but strange stone tablets around. It's very frustrating, so you might as well leave too.”

She laughed at that suggestion. “Nah, we're good. I'm the brawn and she's the brain, so we'll figure something out.”

“If you think, but you'll probably be leaving in the same way yourselves,” the Medicham said. He waved to his allies, then used an Escape Orb to teleport with all of them out of the jungle.

Tess picked up Bess again. “You know, I always thought that if they'd allow partners like us to stick together, I wouldn't mind being in the Golden Guild. A lot of their explorers become fabulously wealthy thanks to secrets they're said to keep.”

“They allow their members no freedom in what jobs they take,” Bess said, recalling what many travelers and ex-members of the Golden Guild had said. “They would not allow a pair to go on the same mission together twice. And the Guildmaster and his associates control everything about the lives of regular members.”

After several more battles, they came across an opening with two stone slabs that were taller than Tess. They matched similar slabs that had been scattered across this level, made of a bluish-gray stone and carved into a pentagon that had been stretched tall. There were no wild Pokemon in the meadow yet. “The two stones are twins, only one room has two stones, the twins hold the key,” Bess recited from several similar slabs they had come across. “This is where we need to be.”

“All right, here you go.” she dropped Bess in front of the southern face of the slab, which thankfully was the one with writing on it. “I'll keep any troublemakers from bugging ya.” She clicked her pincers, amused at her own joke.

The Nosepass looked up at the slab. The riddle it was inscribed with was odd. 'This is or is not Mystery Jungle. The next level is or is not the last level of the dungeon. There is or is not many wild Pokemon on the next level. There is or is not a market on the next level. The way is or is not found in the following method: place the blue or red stone in this or that slab, and place the blue or red stone in this or that slab. The gateway will or will not appear between the two slabs. You will or will not face a challenge from Mew if you arrive at the next level.'

At the foot of the slab, there was a round blue stone. Up on the peak of the slab, there was a circular insert where the stone could be placed. But, it would help to read the other slab in order to solve the riddle correctly, intentionally rather than accidentally. Bess could not turn easily, as her nose, and therefore her face, always had to face north due to magnetism. But she could turn her waist about, then take tiny slow steps with her small stubby feet.

She hadn't even moved two inches when Tess picked her up. “Come on, you should know to ask me. In front of the other one?”

“Sorry. Yes.” Sometimes she was so intent on solving a riddle that she forgot how slow her pace was and how quick Tess could become impatient.

Once she was in front of the other, she noticed that all of the lines of this slab were questions. Most of them would require a simple answer of yes or no. And if these two stones were twins, then the answers to this one had to point out the correct statements on the other.

“Would you stand in front of the other and help me solve this?” Bess asked. “It has many options, but I will tell you which is the correct one.”

“Gotcha,” Tess said. She darted over, glanced around for wild Pokemon, then looked over the words. “Man this is weird.”

The first question was, 'Is this place dark?' The aura of this dungeon and the thick canopy of leaves kept light from being strong here. “The first one is the positive choice.”

“That tells us we understand this key correctly,” Bess said, looking over the next question. It was, 'Do Roselia live here?' They had run into many, so, “The second one is positive.”

“'The next level is the last level of this dungeon.' Ha ha, those Golden Guild losers gave up right at the finish line!”

“The last may be toughest,” she reminded her partner. Reading on, the next question was, 'Does this dungeon have less than ten levels?' They had already passed through nearly thirty, so, “The third one is negative.”

“'There is not many wild Pokemon on the next level.' Well that's a bummer, cause there will be less fights! That sounds boringly easy.” Tess shook her pincers, then glanced aside at a wild Pokemon coming into the room. It didn't seem interested in them yet, wasn't even close enough to see what it was.

Continuing on, the slab asked fairly simple questions. Paying attention to the form of the dungeon and what went on inside it gave the answers to all of them. This led the other slab to telling them that there wasn't a market on the next level and the slabs would lead the way to the next level. The next questions she could solve on her own. 'What color is the sky?' and 'Which stone asks questions?' meant that the blue stone went in this slab, while 'What color is a campfire?' and 'Which stone states things?' meant that the red stone went in the other slab.

The last two questions startled Bess: 'Are you one who always faces north?' and 'Is your friend one of large pincers?'. It seemed to pick out the two of them precisely. But, these words were carved in stone. This had to be the place of a legendary Pokemon, to make such accurate questions. “The last two are both positive,” Bess said in a hesitant voice.

“Then the gateway will appear between these slabs, and we'll face Mew in battle. Awesome! I can't wait! Let me get these thingys in the right spots.” She carefully plucked the blue stone up with her pincers and came over to put it in the slot of the stone Bess was in front of, then did the same for the red stone in the other.

“Mew must know so much,” Bess said to herself. Maybe they could stay to talk with Mew for a little while. Tess might get antsy, but she would love being able to hear the knowledge and wisdom of such an ancient Pokemon.

Once the stones were in place, a beam of energy passed between the two stones. There was a blinding flash, and then a golden gateway appeared in front of them. Such gateways were rare, and they dissolved once used until their key was used or solved again. Tess picked Bess up and walked them both through the gateway, magically transferring them to the next level of Mystery Jungle.

Tess at least had the courtesy to put Bess down when they came across Mew, waiting in a large meadow for them. It was a smaller Pokemon than either of them, a pink feline with a long thin tail, floating in the air. “You found your way to me,” Mew said in a delighted voice. “I hope that you'll play with me a little while.”

“We sure will!” Tess said, clicking her pincers together.

“You chose for us to find you, rather than the other group of explorers,” Bess said. “Why did you do that?”

“Huh, you did?” the Pinsir asked, puzzled.

Mew twisted its tail about so that it was holding it in one paw. “I did. You two have a strong bond of friendship, one that deserves to be honored. They have a weak bond and will easily break in the face of adversity.” Then Mew flipped around in midair, speaking once it was facing them again. “And if you can defeat me in a play battle, then I may have a mission for you. But you must prove yourselves.”

Was this dungeon, including the stone slabs, a test for a special mission? Bess felt that it may be so, and with some thought she might be able to say if it was or not. But then Tess picked her back up. “We'll show the strength of our bond to anybody who dares test it!” the Pinsir shouted before hurling the Nosepass at Mew.

Another battle had begun.

…

Nosepass Sapphire entry: Nosepass has been said to be completely unmoving, with its magnetic nose pointed due north. However, close observation has revealed that the Pokemon actually moves by a little over 3/8ths of an inch each year.

Pinsir Leaf Green entry: If it fails to crush the foe in its pincers, it will swing around and toss the opponent.

Pokedex OS- Still trying to capture every single Pokemon out there in words: 648/718 Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh complete!

Writing is a kind of insanity, I notice sometimes. You have people talking to you inside your head and that's a perfectly normal day. Of course, I'm considered a bit of an insane author by other authors, so yeah. A writer's insights could be kinda scary.

The sky was red before that dawn, leaving an ominous warning to those Pokemon who woke up to it. The air was still, as if nature itself anticipated what was to come. Ever since last night, the field had been empty; the residents had slept elsewhere in fear of what was going to happen. At the edges of the field, there amassed an enormous number of Pokemon, quiet save for the occasional flutter of wings in eager anticipation. They were split up into two sides. On both sides, they were all Staravias. Their gray and black feathers were streaked with yellow and red or green and white today. These markings made by smearing berries or dust on their bodies were the signs of war. The younger Starlies and the older Staraptors had all stayed out of this, either unable to participate or not interested in doing so.

There was one lone Pokemon there that was not a Staravia. She was a Dodrio, and she stood at the entrance of the field on a path that led back to town. In respect to the rules, she had not stepped into the boundaries of the field yet. She wore no signs of war and did not appear nervous at all. Indeed, one of her three heads was still napping while the other two gazed calmly around the area. Often, their looks fell on the center of the field.

In the center of the field, there was a mound of earth that wasn't very large. But it was tall enough to stand over the rest, to make whatever or whoever was there noticeable. At the moment, there was an energy shield sitting on the mound. Its glow flickered occasionally as its time came to an end. Underneath it, barely viewable from where all the Pokemon waited, there was a small instrument. A bamboo flute of two bodies, with a long leather cord attached to it. It was small, but was the reason for all this tension.

This had all started a week ago...

…

“Please, let the Priestess talk!” a Fearow called out into the meeting hall, trying to quell the squabbling between various representatives of the Flying Pokemon in the area. It was a trouble at every such meeting, but one would expect a time of such importance to be respected.

“Thank you,” the Altaria said quietly. All of the flocks were allowed to keep their own laws and customs, but the High Priestess to the Sky Dragon was the closest thing the Flying Pokemon had to a person who ruled over all of them. Technically, any of the legendary Pokemon that could fly had to be obeyed. As the spokesbird for one of them, the Priestess could overrule any of the others.

But she was advanced in years and many birds in their prime no longer respected her. “But our issue is more important!” a Staravia called back. He got agreement from his kin, both other Staravias and the Staraptors.

“I doubt it,” the Fearow said.

There was a tremendous clatter as a rock struck the metal beams of the open-air meeting hall. “Shut up and let's get this dealt with so we can move this meeting on!” an Aerodactyl shouted.

“We'll get to every issue if there is order,” the Priestess Altaria said. “Now, I have come here to announce that I am retiring from my position. It is getting harder for me to fly to the place where I need to perform my duties and keep up with all of you. So I will be passing on the Wind Flute shortly.”

“About time!” a Pidgeotto said, getting laughs from those around him.

She lowered her head. “If all of you keep up this attitude, the only thing that will come of it is strife and division. The Wind Flute will be given to the one who can claim it, as it has always been in our tradition. Tonight, I will place it in the Wind Meadow and a protective shield will come around it. The shield will be impenetrable. A week from today, when the sun rises, the shield will weaken, allowing a suitable candidate to pick up the Flute within it. When the candidate takes it to the top of Sky Tower and plays a note on it, that Pokemon will become the next High Priestess to the Sky Dragon. If a Pokemon who is not suitable to the job tries to take the Flute from the shield, they will be repelled. If the Flute is not taken to the Tower within a day, then it will return to its shield. I hope that it does not take long for the next Priestess to appear. I have...”

Before she could continue, one of the Staravias spoke up. “Well you can be assured that the perfect Pokemon for the job will replace you, because it's going to be me!”

“No way!” another Staravia said. She belonged to a different flock; although they were of the same kind, the two flocks rarely got along. “Our Lady will, because she's the wisest and smartest Pokemon ever!”

“She is not better than me in any way,” the first Staravia argued. “She doesn't deserve the honor.”

“You just want to make your flock the most powerful around, and we're not going to stand for that!”

That triggered a loud argument between the Staravia and the Staraptor representatives. The other Pokemon tried to get them to quit. While none of the others wanted a Staravia Priestess, few of them would dare say it. The Star-birds kept huge flocks including all three levels of their line. Going against one of them could trigger the whole flock to attack or shun the one who offended them. They were already too powerful, for sheer numbers and being one of the stronger birds around.

However, one Pokemon did dare speak up against them. One member of the Dodrio representatives, usually a quiet faction, stepped into an open area and spoke above the clamor. “Neither your nor this Lady are suitable for the role of Priestess!” she said, making her voice rise above the crowd by speaking with all three of her heads. Once the noise lowered, she continued with only two. “I will attempt to claim the Wind Flute, for the honor of Rayquaza.”

After a moment of silence, the Staravia and the Staraptor representatives burst into laughter, from both flocks. “You? I hardly see your kind fly! You don't have a chance of getting to the top of Sky Tower. How are you supposed to be worthy of becoming the High Priestess?”

One of the Dodrio's heads observed the crowd of bird Pokemon there, partly looking for trouble. But her other two heads became busy with thoughts of how the High Priestess was chosen. She hadn't come here intent on making herself seen. She knew it was hard to make any one voice heard here. But, she knew that if one of the Star-bird flocks gained a Priestess, then they would become absolutely intolerable. She doubted any of them could touch the Wind Flute when it had its shield around it. But she might want to be prepared.

Unfortunately, she became so wrapped up in thought, even with two minds busily working out what could be said, recalling what had been written about the position, figuring out if she really wanted to disrupt her life by taking the position, and many more things, that she couldn't respond to the Staravia's question for a good fifteen minutes. She hardly moved, saved for eye movements and occasional slight head turns from her alert head. The Staravias laughed at her again, taunting and teasing her. In the meantime, the others tried to get the meeting back on track and quiet the Staravias from their insults and later more arguing.

After the fifteen minutes, one of her peers finally acted on his thoughts to pull her back to their area. It took another ten minutes for him to get her attention enough to advise her to slip out the side before the meeting ended and the Staravias came after her. But instead of leaving as he wanted, she put herself in the back area where the organizers of the meeting gathered.

She waited until the elderly Altaria came back there in order to leave before everyone else, to avoid squabbles and hassles. “Excuse me,” the Dodrio said in one voice, “but may I ask you a few questions? I may have spoken up too soon, but since I did, I wish to know more before I attempt this.”

The old Priestess cooed, pleased at that. “Of course. Let's head out to somewhere quieter, though. I'm sure your fellows will inform you of what else was discussed.”

…

Now, the day had come. Many eyes were on the eastern horizon, while other eyes were on the shield on the mound. The two Star-bird flocks had bickered about this all week, even come to blows already. But they were saving their biggest efforts for this morning. All of their Staravias were in the trees, waiting for the sign from the sun to begin. They were thinking of power and glory.

But that was not what would win the Wind Flute.

Then, a brilliant line of golden-red light appeared on the horizon. The sun was rising, and for the moment its power wasn't enough to blind one looking at it. The shield on the mound began to flicker with more intensity until, once the first ray of the sun fell upon it, its visual appearance faded to a mere distortion of air.

And the trees erupted as the Staravias took to the air and flew right for their opponents. They screamed threats at each other and collided into battles of beaks and feathers. Before long, it was hard to tell any one of them from another. They fought in the air and on the ground. Even the two females picked as the flock's preferred candidate for High Priestess were fighting, ignoring the Wind Flute in favor of defeating their enemies.

The Dodrio walked calmly along the path through the field. As she wasn't a Staravia, the Pokemon around ignored her as she was not a rival. Her two outer heads kept eyes on the battle around her, watching for signs of danger or of being noticed. Her central head looked straight ahead at the mound, watching the shield and seeing if one of the others dared come down to get it. None did.

At the mound, she observed the shield a moment. While she had learned much from the former Priestess, she wanted to be sure. Her three minds soon agreed that it was fine. Her central head then dropped down past the shield and picked up the flute's cord in her beak. After flipping it to rest on her central neck, she turned around and walked back out of the battlefield. Once she was past it, she broke into a run heading directly for Sky Tower. She could fly, but was much faster and more graceful when on her two feet.

By the twilight of that day, she was blessed by Rayquaza as the new High Priestess and the Staravias finally realized that the object they had been fighting over was long gone.

…

Dodrio Heart Gold entry: It collects data and plans three times as wisely, but it may think too much and fall into a state of immobility.

Staravia HG/SS entry: They maintain huge flocks, although fierce scuffles break out between various flocks.

Pokedex OS- Still trying to capture every single Pokemon out there in words: 648/718 Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh complete!

Nosepass/Pinsir: DAMMIT DAMMIT DAMMIT! Pardon my French, but I'm just so ANGRY. The whole point of me requesting random stuff was to stump you, but of course none of mine do and then this one does! DAMMIT!

Still, it was a good story. Although a bug throwing a magnetic rock is an odd mental image....

Dodrio/Staravia: All I can say is, nice job. It's believable, easy-to-see, and just all around good.

Hmm, I feel an alliterated request is necessary. Howzabout Swadloon, Swoobat, and Swanna? And if you want to do a quad entry, add in Shelmet.

Also, I noticed you haven't covered any elemental monkeys. Whaaaaat? To fix this, how about a Simisear/Palpitoad story?

EDIT: Also, I just realized this(although it's revelant to an older entry). The Solosis you did was happy and cheery, but the Reuniclus was sad and depressed. Mood swing anyone? Five bucks says the Duosion has anger issues.

Last edited by Z-nogyroP; 6th September 2012 at 2:31 AM.

I have discovered what a signature is.

This is Bidoof. Many people loathe it with their lives. If you are of the few people who love this little beaver, put this in your sig. Started by Warrior Scolipede

I usually don't know how any particular Pokemon here will be until I start working on it. Anyhow... this entry has some basis in a few ideas that I never fleshed out elsewhere. It's a different way of looking at legendaries.

Just realized, autumnal equinox is coming up, so I'm gonna throw that second request up for that. It just, seems like it could work at first glance. Edit: Unless I decide that Bronzong and Exploud are actually really good for the first day of fall, lol! They're moved back now.

Seeing movement above the water’s surface, the Wooper swam up and peered into the air. The icy courtyard was busy with humans and Pokemon as usual, although they were scurrying out of the way. This was because of the movement she had first seen, a black figure flying overhead. Descending, the massive Pokemon turned around to get enough time to land safely in the courtyard. With an aura as powerful as the sun and a body that suggested fast and strong attacks, it was still terrifying. The Wooper dropped back into the water with a plunk, thinking that she would just hide at the bottom of the palace waterworks until someone came by with food. She had yet to get near that Pokemon. But, then she recalled some others saying that her friend, the master of this place, was the one who commanded the large black dragon. Curious, she came back up more cautiously and went to the edge of the pool to see.

And it seemed to be true. He was standing next to the dragon now, talking with someone while his hand was on the dragon. His short black hair was ruffed up from the wind and his brown cloak and boots were scuffed up from travel. Of course, most familiar was his scent, even though it was now mingled with dragon and static. She had known that scent since she was very young. But, it seemed so long since she had been near him. Ever since that dragon came, he hadn’t come near to her pool often.

Well it was cool enough in the air that she didn’t mind coming out, even sneaking to the kitchen entrance to see if there were any treats. But today, her mind was on seeing her human friend again. The Wooper hopped out of the pond and began waddling over.

The dragon flew off without him, which was good. But then he headed out of the courtyard, going towards a tower entrance. “Waa,” she cried, then hurried to catch up. If he got into the tower much before her, then she was going to lose him! But she wasn’t fast at crossing the ground either, even on this smooth dirt area. There wasn’t as much to push against, as the air was so much thinner than water.

She got into the tower after him, but he had already started up the stairs. As she didn’t seem that far behind, she hustled over to the stairs too, grabbing the first one with her flipper arms and pulling herself up it. She looked up and saw how easily he was getting up the stairs with his long legs, even though he seemed to be slow, with his head down thinking. “Waa!” she called out again.

In the enclosed space, her cry echoed around, filling the air more than outside. This made him paused to look down at her. “Anise? Don’t hurt yourself trying to get up this tower.” He came back down as she was pulling herself up the second step. Once she got up it, he picked her up to carry her while he continued on his way. “I know I haven’t been around lately. But there’s been so much going on, and I,” he sighed.

She hummed and snuggled against his shoulder. It was nice to be carried by him again, even though climbing stairs made her wary, even like this. There was a bigger fall with every step he took. However, she trusted him; he wouldn’t drop her.

“It is a little strange,” he said in a gentle voice. “When I was younger, I went everywhere with your parents. They helped me so much in establishing myself, and defending me against our enemies. When I needed to impress my superiors in order to get alliances or education, their support helped to clear any doubts in me. But now that I’m the one in charge, the one every sees as their superior, they’re gone. And I’m a little too busy for you. I’m sorry. But I should have some time in the coming months. We’ll see about getting you trained so you can be just as strong as them.”

Training? Anise didn’t much mind that she wasn’t strong. The other Pokemon living in the castle waters recognized that she was favored by the Black King, and so they didn’t bother her with battles. But if it made him happy, she wouldn’t mind doing it. Because then, she’d get to be around him more. Without her parents being around, he was the only family she had. But what about that dragon he was with so often?

He rubbed her wide ears. “I didn’t want to use you in battle. I wanted to raise a Pokemon like you in a world without battles or war. I can’t stand the violence. Most people would agree, but those few that don’t ruin the world for everyone. I tried to arrange for peace between the peoples of our land, showing them how their disputes were petty and easily solved. I tried to point out that no one wants to lose their loved ones to war, that it only ends up hurting everyone, even those far from the battlefield. But they won’t listen. They’ve tried to kill me over a dozen times now. They killed your parents, trying to stop me. I want to make things right; I just don’t see how they don’t see the wrongness of their actions.”

She understood a few pieces of what he was saying, but the Wooper was most concerned that he seemed so troubled. Her life was pretty simple: swimming in the cool waters, finding muddy spots to roll in, acting cute so that the humans would feed and pet her. His life seemed so complicated that she got confused even just thinking about it. Sometimes she wanted to show him how to live simply too, by not caring about all that stuff. Although, that was a nice thing about him, that he cared so much for many things.

At the top of the stairs, they walked out onto the roof of the tower. And there, perched on the platform made for messengers on flying Pokemon, was the large black dragon. It was much larger than the human, able to put its forepaw on his head while barely lifting its arm. Anise looked up at its eyes; they were a perfect mirror of the blue sky above, even with strands of white clouds. They didn't look like the eyes of any normal creature. Spooked, she put herself as close as she could against her friend.

“This is Zekrom,” he said, not scared at all. “Don't worry, it won't hurt you while it's under my command. Zekrom, this is Anise, a Pokemon that I've known since she hatched. She innocent, like so many children of the world.” He then walked out onto the platform to look over the countryside beyond the castle.

“Krrraaa,” Zekrom said, observing her.

But it didn't say anything she could understand. Anise wasn't sure why; she could understand the sounds and gestures of any other Pokemon, even if she'd never seen one like it before. But here, this dragon gave no hints. It wasn't reassuring, or threatening, or anything that she could understand.

“I've been trying to show the world a better way to live, nicely,” he said, taking one hand off the Wooper briefly to adjust is cloak. The wind up here was toying with it. “I've been doing so for a long time. But, it's not working. Even with you Zekrom, people don't want to listen when I ask politely.” He stroked Anise's head, getting her to look at his face. This issue was causing him grief, but most of the time he didn't show it. She could see a crack of it now. “They respect me, or so they say. But if they will not listen to respect, then I'll have to make them listen through fear, as much as I didn't want to go this far. Zekrom, I want you to go back to that city we were just at... and show them the kind of power we have. Wipe it off the map.”

This didn't sound good. Anise protested this, first looking at her friend, then up at the large dragon. Good Pokemon weren't supposed to do something like that. Surely, the dragon would agree with her.

Zekrom screeched, but in an aggressive way. And then its meaning came loud and clear to Anise, rather like one of the castle bells ringing right above her head. I was born from the minds of humankind, from ideas of what the world should be. I am the ideal. To the ones who truly value the ideal, their will is mine. I will do whatever is asked of me to turn ideal into reality. Then Zekrom took off into the air, sending a gust of air at them. Its power was enough that Anise could feel the static all over her skin.

“This moment of violence will be justified when the world is at peace,” the Black King said. “If they still do not listen, then we can cause a storm to purify this whole world. I hope it doesn't come to that.”

Shivering, Anise hid her face against his chest. She still felt safe with him. But in that moment, she witnessed when he became a tyrant that would be feared for the rest of his reign.

…

Wooper Heart Gold entry: This Pokemon lives in cold water. It will leave the water to search for food when it gets cold outside.

Zekrom W2/B2 entry: This legendary Pokemon can scorch the world with lightning. It assists those who want to build an ideal world.

Last edited by Ysavvryl; 9th September 2012 at 3:40 AM.

Pokedex OS- Still trying to capture every single Pokemon out there in words: 648/718 Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh complete!

Oh, this was really good. I love how perfectly the dex entries fit the story. Anise is so innocent and cute, and Zekrom is really different from the other legendaries in this thread. It's sort of... almost robot-like. Nice job.

I want to mention this before the Gothorita/Duosion/Escavalier story goes up: Gothorita has one of the creepiest entries ever. Listen to its BW2 entry: Old folk tales say that it made friends for itself by hypnotizing sleeping children. *shudders*

I have discovered what a signature is.

This is Bidoof. Many people loathe it with their lives. If you are of the few people who love this little beaver, put this in your sig. Started by Warrior Scolipede

Yeah, Gothorita's entry is pretty creepy... but Gothitelle's is sad. As for Zekrom's behavior, it came off two quotes from two different stories. One was the idea that legendaries were forces of nature, human nature in that case. The other was in CS, about how a careless word from one of the chosen heroes can start something terrible.

This entry turned out to be fun! Also, Gothorita marks the halfway point for completion of the Unova 'dex! Very exciting.

She appeared without warning in the middle of the night, a dark figure holding aside the flap of the tent. Illuminated by the moon, the white bows that adorned her body shimmered like silk. Otherwise, her dark body and hair blended into the night. The Gothorita crept in to look at the children, unaware that one was not entirely asleep.

After a moment, she seemed satisfied and waved her arms around, humming strangely. Sparkles appeared to fall over the three boys, causing them to come out of their sleeping bags and crawl out of the tent after the little Pokemon. “There's too many people out here, so let's take a walk,” she said. “We'll dance in a pretty place and it will be such fun. Come along, darlings.”

She led them away from the campsite and to an open field. It still had ropes and flags set up from the day's sport activities, but she ignored them and instructed the three children to dance in a round with her. As they were asleep (or mostly so), they were unable to resist.

In the middle of their dance, another Pokemon came flying onto the field, like a meteorite across the sky. One of his long lances nearly tore one of the boy's pajamas in half when the tip snagged the fabric. “Hoo, stop there evil-doer!” the Escavalier shouted. “I am about to punish you most severely for kidnapping these children!”

She put a hand to her chest, acting shocked. “Kidnapping? I'd never do such a thing. I'm out here playing with my friends.”

“But human children aren't supposed to be out so late at night,” the Escavalier. “That proves that you kidnapped them.”

She shook her head, then wiped away a few false tears. “No, they're considerate of me and don't make me come out in the horrid daylight. They're very dear to me; please don't take them from me. See, this is Kid, and this is Star, and this is Calamity. And don't tease Kid of his name; he gets so mad when people do that.”

Shifting his eyes, the Escavalier considered it. “They look like some of the kids in this camp session, like Bill, George, and Miguel.”

“Well they're obviously not those kids.” She clasped her hands to her chest. “Pleeeeeassse don't separate us! I have such a hard time making friends.”

“Well...” he shifted his red-crested helmet.

“WAAAIIIITTT!” A green bubble-like Pokemon came hurrying through the air, from the same direction the Escavalier had come from. His body had very few features aside from a large head in its green gel bubble, just a nub of a torso and tiny hands. Panting, the Duosion came up to them. “Have you found the kidnapped children, Sir Qix?”

“I am not a kidnapper!” the Gothorita blubbered through her tears. “They're my friends; don't be mean to them.”

“She says she's not, and none of the boys are complaining, so I guess she's not,” Qix the Escavalier said. “But you should really hurry up when we go out on the hunt.”

“I try,” the Duosion said, sinking in the air. “But she has some of the kids out of their tents. But I guess you would be right. Or it should be obvious that she's lying...”

“Can't you make up your minds?” Qix said, shaking one of his striped lances. “You've been like that ever since you evolved.”

“Well I do have two now. Harder to think straight than with one.”

“So will you leave us be to dance?” the Gothorita said, bringing out a handkerchief to wipe off her face.

“No!” Qix shouted. “We've got more important things to do, and the more bodies we have out searching, the better! I'm the most important Pokemon of the campgrounds, Sir Qix the Magnificent! And this is my squire, Sam. We're on a hunt for a kidnapper.”

Sam waved his arms, causing the matching gel nubs to wave too. “It might just be kids sneaking out of their tents and cabins at night. But it might also be a kidnapper. We're up to make sure the kids are all in bed. Which means that we probably should ask you to return your friends to their cabins. But it would also be good to have more people looking. But then they couldn't understand us because they're humans.”

“Oh, don't worry about that,” the Gothorita said, holding her handkerchief over her face. “When my friends are with me at night, they can understand any of us. Thank you so much for understanding. I'm Lady Raven Desmonda Darkheart. I surely hope that there's not a kidnapper around, because then my dear friends would be in danger. But then I had heard that it was a horrible monster somewhere in the woods that was trying to eat the children.”

“I heard that too,” Sam said, his gel quivering. “It was scary. But it was also too silly to be real. It'd be awful if it was real, though. I wouldn't want to... but if you want...” His body suddenly stretched as one of his minds tried to run away while the other stayed, then snapped back into place with violent jiggling. “Oooo, I hate it when I do that...”

Qix slammed his lances together, making a tremendous clatter that somehow didn't wake up the children. “We can't let a child eater be roaming our campgrounds! We must seek out this monster and defeat it in noble combat! Come, let's be off!”

“But I can't leave my friends behind,” Raven said, looking at the three boys. “Calamity would be so disappointed if he missed out on fighting a monster, even a child-eating one. That'd be even more exciting, wouldn't it?”

One of the three boys nodded in response.

“I think there's something like that in the lake,” Raven said. “We ought to check that area out first.”

“Yes, let's go! There's nothing to fear when Qix the Magnificent is at your side!” Qix then rushed off, forcing the rest to run (or float in Sam's case) as fast as they could to catch up to him. And when they got to the muddy banks of the campground lake, they saw something huge slithering just below the dark silvery surface.

-+-

“Hold it!” The camp counselor put his hand on the shoulder of the boy telling the story. “That's utterly ridiculous; there is no monster in the lake.”

“Well yes, because we defeated it last night. That's why we were late to the morning meeting and why our pajamas were all muddy.” The boy smiled proudly.

“That's kitchen and bathroom clean-up for all three of you, to the end of next week. Now get to work.”

“But...” the boy whined.

“No buts. Get.”

“Yes sir.”

On their way to the cabin where cleaning supplies were kept, one of the other boys said, “I told you you should have just stuck to the Gothorita part. He would have believed that.”

“But that's so lame.”

The third boy narrowed his eyes. “Lame? As if this is any better? No thanks, dummy.”

…

Gothorita B2/W2 entry: According to many old tales, it creates friends for itself by controlling sleeping children on starry nights.

Escavalier Black entry: They fly around at high speed, striking with their pointed spears. Even when in trouble, they face opponents bravely.

Duosion Black entry: Since they have two divided brains, at times they suddenly try to take two different actions at once.

Pokedex OS- Still trying to capture every single Pokemon out there in words: 648/718 Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh complete!

That was fun. Although I actually thought you would have made Escavalier female and Gothorita male... Oh well. Duosion was funny! Qix is an interesting name. As was Gothorita's impossibly long name... Anyway, nice job again.

Hmm... what could the monster have been?

I have discovered what a signature is.

This is Bidoof. Many people loathe it with their lives. If you are of the few people who love this little beaver, put this in your sig. Started by Warrior Scolipede

She winced. Normally, she could keep still for long periods of time. But that harsh buzzing would not stop and the Pokemon that was causing it kept approaching. It was enough to test the patience of a saint. Fortunately, the fog and rain here was thick enough that she didn't have to worry about being seen yet.

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzt!

“For crying out loud, get that thing to shut up!” a girl's voice rang through the area. “It's giving me a headache.”

“You said we should have our Pokemon out with us,” a boy replied, his words blurred by the incessant buzzing. “I can’t get this Ninjask to keep quiet. I hardly even see it most of the time, especially in weather like this.”

“It's a lousy Pokemon for a ninja, so you should get rid of it,” another boy said.

“It's not that bad! And the other two members of its line are so awesome and sneaky. I don't know why it's so loud.”

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzt!

Although she was listening as best she could, only the voices told her there was three kids walking close to her location. The unruly Ninjask masked the usual clues. There were probably another pair of Pokemon out with them, at least. Sometimes, the noise could be used. But silence was needed now.

A whirl of the water vapors brought her attention to a faint brown and yellow figure near her. Figuring that the kids were far enough that it was safe, she waved a finger in the air, reminding her Ninjask that he was to remain quiet even though there was this noisy one around. And he did. He knew better than to disobey her word.

As the kids continued walking on, she checked on her other Pokemon. As long as that other Ninjask stayed out, it made a good cover to mask any noise she had to make. On the ground, her Magcargo was munching on the melting dirt around it. There was a slight hiss around his molten body as the raindrops fell around him and vaporized into this steam. He was leaving behind evidence, but the grass and ground always recovered quick. Besides, torn and burnt up areas of ground were seen as normal due to the hazards of Pokemon battles going on everywhere.

At a movement of her hand, her Ninjask and Accelgor flew within her sight. The latter had agreed to use gray and white bindings around her red body. In these conditions, it was better cover than her preferred black and violet. As a Shelmet, she had been difficult to work with, being slow and noisy. As an Accelgor, she was as quiet and quick as a dream. They were also patiently enduring the noisy Ninjask, waiting until it was time to strike.

This was to her satisfaction, so she gave a hand signal to the Ninjask to use Baton Pass on the Magcargo. Once that was done, the magma snail would be fast enough to keep up with her. Not the other two, but that wasn't necessary. He was needed to keep up the fog cover.

“Does the fog seem worse around here?” the girl asked, her voice getting further away. “We should have taken that Defog HM.”

“I am not putting worthless battle moves on one of my team,” one of the boys said.

Which was good for her, because Defog would make the Magcargo's presence more obvious. With him sped up, she make a dash through the area of tall grass nearby. Her three Pokemon moved along with her, the Accelgor and Ninjask weaving at her sides and in front of her to quickly knock aside any wild Pokemon that got in their way. With the threat of random travelers interfering lowered but a change in work schedules coming up, this was the moment to move in.

They came to a log cabin, which served as an office for the local Pokemon Rangers. They had another in the city to handle citizen requests, but this was where a lot of their background work was actually done. At the entrance, one of the Rangers stood as a guard; a Growlithe sat beside him, sitting up watchful even though it would be relying on scent in this weather.

She waved at the two Bug Pokemon, sending them ahead. The Accelgor rushed ahead, using its mouth to take the pin out of a stench grenade as trained, then hurl it at the feet of the Growlithe. A second later, the Ninjask followed up with an attack on the Growlithe as the grenade released its overpowering and mixed scents into the air. That would prevent the Growlithe, or any other tracking Pokemon, from finding their scent in the sensory chaos.

The Growlithe yelped and the Ranger came to attention. “Who's out there?!” he shouted into the fog.

Wanting the Ranger to witness as little as possible, she threw a dart at his neck; its tip was coated in a sleep-inducing poison, enough to knock him out for several hours but not enough to kill him. Pokemon were reluctant to attack humans and while they could be trained to do so, she preferred not to do that to her team. They needed to see her as their superior and leader, with no potential to attack her in rebellion. Thus, she had to handle any human opponents.

He pulled the dart out, then released a Spearow. “Get those two...” he struggled to hold out, but stumbled back.

Trained to attack any unknown Flying types on sight on a mission, the Magcargo immediately hurled a rocky glob of earth at the Spearow. It was still dim red from his internal heat. The Ninjask slashed at it with his bladed claws, then the Accelgor attacked the Growlithe once more. Both of the Ranger's Pokemon went down before they could get ready for the battle, and he was now asleep. As it should be.

Nodding in approval, she entered the cabin office. No one would be working now, but in an hour, several high ranked Rangers would come here to take care of business. Still, she made a quick scan of the place in case of trouble. It was a typical office, with mobile room dividers, several desks and computers, file cabinets, and a water cooler. On one wall, there was a large cork-board with a map of the region covered in pins, plus many smaller notes in reference to the pins or other items. One of the notes said, 'upper Blue River Plains, #12, file RO-95713'.

This job was pretty simple: to keep the Pokemon Rangers from investigating that area and coming across what her clan protected. Initially, they made it too dangerous by laying traps and attacking them indirectly. It worked for several decades, but the recent head of the Rangers was rock-headed stubborn about getting all locations of this sprawling region mapped out and explored. At this point, she had to get them to delay starting their investigations and take what she needed to fake a Ranger report.

While she worked, her Pokemon kept alert to how things were going. The Magcargo crawled onto the rubber welcome mat; it started to stink, adding onto the stench bomb's mask. The Ninjask and Accelgor patrolled around outside, keeping their senses peeled for people coming up to the cabin; both were small and quick enough to avoid being noticed by whoever they spotted. Occasionally they got into fights with wild Pokemon. They all knew how to conduct themselves: end the battle quickly, get out if that wasn't possible. Or in the Magcargo's case, send up flares to get assistance from his teammates. Good Pokemon were a big help, but many things could only get done by a human.

When her task was complete, she then worked on covering her tracks. The Rangers should not suspect that it was her doing this, or anyone connected to her clan. So she took out a small can of blue spray paint and covered the door and one wall with particular tags; she had practiced this so it would be mistaken for a local criminal group. They usually didn't practice, but she had to get the style right. Then she had the Magcargo send up a fire flare to get the attention of the other two. Once they were inside the cabin, she gave hand signals for them to help her mess up the interior. It should look like a much sloppier job than it really was.

Paper ended up flying everywhere. She gave special attention to making a botched attempt to open the office safe. While she could successfully open it, that would betray the skill level of the intrusion. With the office in sufficient disorder, she kicked a chair out of the way and grabbed one of the papers that was settling down. She knelt down by her Magcargo and held it to his face. He nipped it as a taste test; a drip of his magma caused the paper to catch on fire. Shooing the Ninjask and Accelgor out, she used the paper to set the curtains on fire. Then she left the cabin, carrying several investigation forms, a collections of stamps with an ink book to mark false approvals, a book detailing proper formatting, and insurance and billing forms. This should allow them to control what went into the Rangers' files about their lands.

With that done, she found another observation point and waited, the fog filling out around them once again. The cabin fire was quickly noticed and attended to. People in the area remembered the boy's disobedient Ninjask, which would match the damage done by her's. When remains of the paint tags were found, the damage was attributed to the criminal group. A number of their members would be rash enough to set fire to a place if they failed their intended theft. She and her Pokemon waited for things to calm down, then headed off into the city

This deed had been successful, but it was only the first steps.

…

Sapphire entry: Magcargo's body temperature is approximately 18,000 degrees F. Water is vaporized on contact. If this Pokemon is caught in the rain, the raindrops instantly turn into steam, cloaking the area in a thick fog.

Sapphire entry: If Ninjask is not trained properly, it will refuse to obey the Trainer and cry loudly continuously. Because of this quality, this Pokemon is said to be one that puts the Trainer's abilities to the test.

Accelgor White entry: Having removed its heavy shell, it becomes very light and can fight with ninja-like movements.

Pokedex OS- Still trying to capture every single Pokemon out there in words: 648/718 Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh complete!

The Bronzong was singing an ancient song. It was tradition, passed down through many generations. Levitating over the rice field, she danced to a specific pattern: move north the same as twice her body width, turn around thrice to the right until facing west, move west for thrice her body width, ring self five times with left arm… there was much more to it, but she never had trouble calculating the numbers and motions. There were different formulas to different fields, different plants, and local landscape variations. As it was her life’s duty, she could adapt to any farm after a couple hours of observation.

Why was she doing this? It was to help the plants the humans watched over grow. As long as she or another Bronzong continued this work, the humans would hold her and her Bronzor kin in respect. And it was good to keep the favor of the humans. They could be a source of great blessings, or a monstrous curse, depending on how the Pokemon respected them.

As she continued her ritual song, she began to feel vibrations from elsewhere. She was never quite sure where this elsewhere was; it was like another world, in the few glimpses she had seen of it. More importantly, it never ceased raining there. She could hear the wishes of the rice plants for more water, as she had not been successful in previous dances at making contact with elsewhere. Feeling grateful that this song was successful, she shifted her song and sent pleas for rain from it.

The vibrations became stronger as the light began to dim. Overhead, the clouds became fuller, swelling until they released a gentle rain over the countryside. The elsewhere rain took in the light of her world and scattered it wide. It always felt a little different from normal rain, mysterious and even a little dark. Despite the mystical quality, it was just as nourishing as normal rain to plants in need of water.

She finished up her ritual, giving thanks to the mysterious elsewhere that let her borrow its rain. Then she left the field for the place she lived. As she drifted along, she saw that the rain was spreading to many other fields. That was good; all of them could use it today. Then, somewhere in the patter of the rain, she heard a loud multi-tone sound, like a small group of trumpets playing at once. What was that? She’d been hearing it for a few weeks now, but still didn’t know. The sound came from different places on different days, so she had yet to go find the source.

But as the sound went on, she began to hear another sound underneath it: the trembling of the earth below its surface. This was not good. She clanged her arms against her sides, making four loud notes that she used when she needed to warn the humans of danger. Not long after, a tremor shook the ground. As she was a good levitator, it didn’t affect her. But she knew a lot of the Bronzor would be badly shaken by this, so she hurried on her way.

Close to the edge of a rocky area, there was a human-made structure that was painted bright blue and gold, with open sides and a roof for cover. It was a place that the humans had made for her kind. The Bronzong and Bronzor were willing to live here, in a place that wasn’t good for farming but had areas to hide and good minerals to eat. Past the shelter, she found that some other levitators had begun to move the grounded ones to one area, to better attend to them. They were all Bronzor, though; hardly any of their kin bothered to grow into a Bronzong unless they were ritual dancers like her.

“How are they?” she asked in concern.

“Not well,” a Bronzor said. From the tone of his voice, he leaned towards male-ness. It was a personal choice for all of them when they were considered mature. “It must have been harder, because more of them have fallen.”

“And that’s the third one this week too,” a female said. “Is it building to something much bigger?”

“I don’t know,” the Bronzong admitted. “I hope not. It would hurt many more besides these ones. Is someone gathering berries?”

“Yes, my lady.”

“Good, then let’s wait for them to wake up.” She looked over those that had been brought to this place, trying to identify any grounded ones that were not brought here yet.

Sometime later, a trio of young humans came into the shelter, tracking muddy footprints and dripping with rainwater. “Bringer of the rains, caretaker of the fields, we wish to speak with you,” one of them called out into the gray air. “We have something we wish to ask of you.”

The Bronzong looked down at the shelter. “I should see what they want,” she said. “Keep caring for the grounded ones, and be sure they have some healing berries when they wake up.”

With the other levitators there agreeing to that, she went to the shelter, not bothering to shake the water off her. One of the males stepped closer to her and bowed. “Thank you for watching over our fields, to ensure a good harvest. But we have something else to ask of you. There has been another Pokemon in the fields, one few of us have seen. It’s been ruining fields by stomping over the plants with its large feet. And, we think its calls are causing the ground to shake. Would you help us find it so we can drive it away?”

“We have heard it close by, so we think we can catch up to it quickly now,” the female with them added.

“Yes, please help us, caretaker,” the male said, offering the bowl he had to her. It was filled with shards of pottery, including some finely made fragments.

This surprised her. It was a delicious offering of tasty treats, but one that she usually didn’t see until around harvest time. But then, if it was a strange Pokemon that was causing the tremors and ruining the fields, then it was important to them to stop it. And important for her because she watched over the fields too. If the harvest was poor because of this stranger, than it would partly be her fault as well.

With this in mind, she took the bowl and set it aside under a bench of the shelter. The Bronzor usually knew not to mess with anything there, as it was hers. “Yes, let’s look for this stranger,” she said, then left the shelter for the road, looking back to the young humans for guidance.

The odd trumpet sound continued, allowing the four of them to follow the roads west until the sound was coming from nearby fields. However, it was further away then they had thought, louder as well. It was nearly deafening, enough that the Bronzong could hardly hear herself ring. The humans were having a hard time dealing with it, but one of the males came with her into the field that the din was coming from. Many of the bean plants had recently been trodden on, with large feet as the humans had said. The Pokemon itself was large and squat, with many large tubes like trumpets over its body. In the lore that she had been taught as a ritual singer, she knew what Pokemon this was even if she’d never seen one before: an Exploud, a destructive and chaotic Pokemon to have so close to the farms.

Hovering in front of him to get attention, she spoke as soon as the tones from his horns lowered. “Please, stop,” she ordered. “You are not welcome here if you mean to cause harm to the fields.”

“Why should I listen to you?” he asked, but with his eyes on the other. “You are an ally to the humans, so I hate you.”

“It is my duty to serve the humans,” she said. “They can be of great benefit if you work for them. Why would you think so ill of them?”

Then the Exploud looked at her. “Benefit? They’re awful. Keep driving me away from any place I would try to settle. They won’t even let me come to places like this to get food without harassing me.”

Noticing that the male human wanted to sneak up behind the Exploud for some reason, the Bronzong continued to speak with him with the intent of distracting him. “You are dreadfully loud; two of them could hardly come up here close to you. Not only that, but you’re trampling over the food that everyone around here shares. If you would be so thoughtless, then others would share with you.”

“Thoughtless?!” he growled, narrowing his eyes at her.

“You could have simply eaten some from the edges of the field, not walked all the way in here,” she pointed out. The Exploud did have very large feet, as well as a hefty tail which was tearing vines out of the ground as he moved it.

“I do that because they’re so mean to me,” he said, clenching his fists. A sharp rush of air sounded as his horns began to swell.

“That only makes them turn on you quicker,” the Bronzong said.

Then the Exploud trumpeted again, but this time far louder with all of his trumpet horns directed at her. It made her metallic body quiver and squeezed at her mind. Behind the Exploud, she saw the male human cringe at the sound. He darted forward and grabbed hold of some hairs on the Exploud’s body, tearing them out. Then he hurried out of the field as the Pokemon yelped, adding another harsh tone to his sound attack.

Now that the human was out of the way, the Bronzong picked up the Exploud with levitation and hurled him clear out of the bean field. Although her body still hurt, she pursued him. The earth was groaning again, but the shock of landing had stopped the Exploud’s trumpet calls. “I’m sorry for your troubles, but I will protect the fields I watch over,” she called to him. “You are not only ruining the fields, but you are also causing the earth pain enough to tremble. If you continue to be like this, then you are definitely not welcome here either.”

He barraged her with sound again, causing a second earthquake to strike. While the quake still did not affect her, she felt a crack tearing into her side. Her tone was going to be off until that got fixed up. For the moment, she fled the battle, going back to where the young humans were.

The one male was on his knees now, trembling in pain as well. “Here, I got some hairs off it,” he said, shakily giving his hand to the other male. “Take that to Gran and see if she can’t do something about it.”

“You should also give one to the caretaker, so she can track the monster’s presence easier,” the female said, then noticed her. “Oh my, you got hurt badly too.”

“You take the hairs,” the other male said. “I’m going to run to the nearest house and see if there’s a way to transport the two of them to the healer’s place.”

“I feel that it may be troubling us for some time,” the Bronzong said, although they would not understand. Gran might; that old human female was quite adept in figuring out what she meant.

And she was right about that; once the crack in her body was healed up, she spent the next moon cycle keeping track of the Exploud with one of his hairs. She led both humans and other Pokemon in efforts to drive him away from their fields. While much damage was done, they managed to drive the Exploud away with a brilliant plan. But that is another story.

…

Bronzong Platinum entry: It brought rains by opening portals to another world. It was revered as a bringer of plentiful harvests.

Ruby entry: Exploud triggers earthquakes with the tremors it creates by bellowing. If this Pokemon violently inhales from the ports on its body, it's a sign that it’s preparing to let loose a huge bellow.

Pokedex OS- Still trying to capture every single Pokemon out there in words: 648/718 Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh complete!

When it came to fanfiction, he rather liked stories in which someone from the normal world got sucked into a fictional world. It didn't matter which world, really; could be from a movie, a TV series, a book, or a video game. It was just interesting to see what a normal person would do in these weird worlds. But if it was going to happen to him, he wanted it to be something cool where he could be someone powerful, like Halo or God of War. Not his kid sister's dumb Pokemon game.

But that's exactly where he had ended up.

“Joe, you need to do some Pokemon observations in the wild,” a man in a lab coat and glasses told him. “If you want to get your Trainer's license, there's a certain amount of observation hours you need to do.” He handed over a clipboard with a few sheets of lined paper and a pen attached with a chain.

“At night?” he asked. Not that he was tired, but it was strange that with as cautious as they were, this guy was telling him to go out in the dark.

“Just keep a flashlight and one of the night-vision goggles, and don't go into the tall grass,” the scientist stereotype guy said.

“Fine,” he said, taking it. At first, the people here had thought he was crazy in claiming that this was a fictional world, not where he was from. And he had thought he was crazy too. But after a few weeks of 'therapy', Joe decided that he needed to go along with the 'hit my head' explanation and they decided that he needed to do some work to get better. Because of this, he was assigned to be a lab assistant until he qualified to be a Trainer and could... well, go do something else. What that was he didn't know.

He thought it was all silly. Why did he need qualifications? All his sister had to do was turn on the game. And it wasn't like this was a dangerous place. As far as he'd seen, Pokemon were cute happy creatures who liked to beat each other up for fun and wouldn't turn on people. Also, it made for a dumb anime. And the time he'd been forced to spend here hadn't changed his mind.

At least if he was allowed to leave this weirdly small 'city', then he could find a way to get back home. Nothing here gave him any hints and the place he had appeared was out in the wild. And they wouldn't let him go out in the grass without his own Pokemon. Ridiculous.

Joe walked out of town, to the route that led to the next town over. Due to ledges and tall grass, he couldn't get to that other town yet, at least when he kept with their rules. But he should be able to make his observations here. He found a spot just outside of one of the grassy plots where there was a spiky purple-ish rock. That would be good; he sat there.

And then the center of the rock opened up, revealed a single black eye. It looked over at him, then narrowed. A rattling hiss came from it.

Snorting, he sat down. “What's it to you, rock? It's a free country and I can sit where I want.” He remembered there being rock-like Pokemon, so this was probably one of them. Geodud, or something like that.

The spiky rock looked at him for a while longer, still hissing. Then it rolled off to sit at the edge of the grass. Turning around so that its other side was to him, it continued to watch him.

“I bet you have a cute face behind that spiky exterior,” Joe said. No Pokemon could be threatening, not with what he'd seen his sister use. Whenever he got around to getting his own and traveling, he'd probably go with a dog-like Pokemon. He could deal with cute if it was a dog.

Looking around, he saw a yellow and red glow in the grass. Fire? Unfortunately not. While it did shift occasionally, it didn't behave like fire in any other way. He put on the night-vision goggles and looked over at the glow. It was, as suspected, another Pokemon. This one was tall and furry, with a fluffy tail end, small legs, and freaky large eyes. Both its eyes and its belly showed that bright glow while it stood there, watching the area around it.

“Stupid idea if you ask me,” he muttered. Having glowing fur at night time? Only in a world like this where nothing could really hurt anything else. If that thing was in the real world, it would be eaten in minutes by wolves and coyotes.

The tall furry Pokemon stayed where it was, turning its head and occasionally twitching its tail without bending or curling it. The round spiky Pokemon sat at the edge of the grass, watching him. And he sat watching these two while wearing night-vision goggles. That was all that happened for the next hour.

“This is stupid.” He made his notes as detailed as possible, repeating enough to show how bored he was doing this dumb observation. But they'd probably praise him for doing a thorough job like the cheerful optimists they all were.

As he paused thinking about what insignificant detail to go into next, he noticed that the tall furry one began to flash its lights faster. It was watching a part of the grass intently. Joe watched (for lack of anything better to do) and saw when a giant snake reared up and lunged for the furry prairie dog thing. No, that wasn't a snake. That was some sort of land eel, with yellow circles flashing on its murky skin. Then it fired a large spark at the glowing prairie dog.

It jumped out of the way, biting the eel's fin and ripping a chunk of it out. Joe wasn't sure he was seeing things right. Had it really done that? But as the land eel, turned around and growled, it seemed to be real. There was a portion of its back fin gone now, bleeding even. The land eel bared its teeth, then fired a spark at the prairie dog again. As the smell of burnt fur hit Joe's nose, he saw the eel bite off the fluffy end of the prairie dog's tail.

Wait... this was how Pokemon actually behaved?

Then there was a brilliant flash from the prairie dog, briefly blinding Joe and the land eel. With a pattering of paws, the prairie dog ran away from the scene. The land eel made a grumbling sound when it realized this. After sniffing the air, it headed towards the round spiky Pokemon. The rock-thing decided that Joe was less of a threat now and turned its attention to the land eel. It fired one of its spikes at the eel.

-+-

“It was horrible,” Joe told the scientist guy. “That rock thing gored the eel right through, but it kept trying to eat it.”

“A Whirlipede,” he said. “And it's not a Rock type; it's Bug and Poison. Odd that you should have seen an Eelektrik around here. There aren't many reports of them being here, although Pokemon do tend to migrate. The, um, what you call 'prairie dog' is a Watchog, very common in these lands. Make sure to get their proper names in.”

“But they were trying to kill each other,” Joe said. He could handle violent and gory games; they weren't real and the blood spatter made it thrilling. But to see animals rip into each other like that, it made him feel sick. Maybe it was better that he hadn't fallen into one of his more violent games... or maybe this one was more violent than he realized.

“That was just normal predatory behaviors,” the scientist guy said. “Wild Pokemon will do that, but tame Pokemon get these instincts inhibited so that they're less destructive. The observation report looks good so far, but you may wish to cut out the repetition before turning it in the finals.” with that, he handed the clipboard with its written records back.

“I have got to find a way back home soon,” Joe muttered to himself. He'd take an ordinary Earth day over this any time.

…

Watchog White entry: They make the patterns on their bodies shine in order to threaten predators. Keen eyesight lets them see in the dark.

Whirlipede B2/W2 entry: Storing energy for evolution, it sits. But, when predators approach, it moves to stab them with poison spikes.

Eelektrik White entry: These Pokemon have a big appetite. When they spot their prey, they attack it and paralyze it with electricity.

Pokedex OS- Still trying to capture every single Pokemon out there in words: 648/718 Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh complete!

This was... different. Not bad by any means, just different. I thoroughly enjoyed it, as you haven't done anything like this ever. Cool. And very realistic approach. Joe got pwned.

Also, you forgot my request of Golett/Furret/Seadra. Unless you're covering one of them for your birthday. Then, just do the ones you didn't use. Also, may I request a Vileplume/Trubbish/Amoonguss story?

I have discovered what a signature is.

This is Bidoof. Many people loathe it with their lives. If you are of the few people who love this little beaver, put this in your sig. Started by Warrior Scolipede

Well, I do need a good list of requests. Since I'm participating in NaNoWriMo, I need to build up a number of entries during October so that I can continue posting for POS during November. I should have just about enough now to cover October and November, but a few more wouldn't hurt. Going ahead and listing Lampent for Halloween too.

For my birthday, I go back to one of my favorite types, Psychics. Chingling always makes me think of PMD since Chingling shows up so often as an outlaw there! Very silly, especially when the client is a more powerful evolved Pokemon. And Beldum, I recently traded one over to a new Pearl game, since I've never trained that line before. While I had traded over two others as eggs, the Beldum wasn't, so it was also the first time I ran into a traded Pokemon that was leveled enough to be disobedient. It was half-entertaining and half-frustrating.

The Golden Desert was warm, filled with yellow sand and glittering rocks. Tough plants like cacti and scrub brush were keeping themselves defensive until the next rainfall. Out here, there were said to be hidden treasures, but even more dangers: the heat could be relentless, the plants were all covered in spikes, the little insects were venomous and armed with natural weaponry, the paths were difficult to follow. Not only that, but the native Pokemon here were as tough as steel, even when they weren't Steel types. Many were troublesome ones as well, laying many traps to catch unwary outsiders. Still, the lure of rare stones and treasures were tempting to many explorers. Most turned back within a few hours.

She wasn't going to be like that, she kept telling herself. That pulled her through an entire day here. Still, her goal was nowhere to be seen. She had her Explorer Badge, so she could get help if there was trouble. Hopefully, she wouldn't have to use it.

The Chingling had taken a long time to prepare for this place, even getting a larger Pokemon's white head scarf to wrap on top of herself like a turban, in order to keep the sun deflected. Today wasn't too bad, although she still flapped her tail ribbons whenever she hopped. The motion would keep her aloft briefly, off the sun-baked ground. But even her Wonder Map couldn't pinpoint the location of the rarely visited dungeon she was looking for.

How long would it take? She didn't let herself wonder that too long, as then she'd get worried. For now, she focused on navigating the desert, watching for traps and aggressive wild Pokemon, and monitoring her supplies. As she looked around, she looked for signs of the place. Nothing so far.

Then, with no warning, the Chingling felt a severe sense of being alone and lost. It was almost enough to make her cry. But, why? She hadn't been thinking of that and she didn't mind working alone. Sure, it was more fun to work with other explorers. But this was... it was like when she had only been a hatchling and had been upset because her parents had left her alone for an hour. Only, not that immature.

She soon realized that it was a form of telepathy; some Pokemon was sending out its emotions strongly. The Chingling landed, then jumped as high as she could while fluttering her tail ribbons, so that she could look around from above. What kind of Pokemon was it? If it was orange, yellow, or brown, it might blend into the landscape.

Thankfully, it wasn't. She spotted a dark blue that at first looked like a rock, but the form of an eye hinted that it might be a Pokemon. She shifted her striped ribbons to land next to it. While it wasn't familiar, seeing it reminded her of an illustration in a book: a Beldum.

As it didn't seem to notice her at first, she jangled her bell orb to ring for attention. “Hello,” she said. “Do you need some assistance? I'm Chi, an explorer.”

The Beldum lifted off the ground. It was a strangely shaped Pokemon, like a large red eye in the grasp of a dark blue hand, which had hooks at the end instead of being connected to a body. Then again, she was probably strange-looking herself to those not used to Chinglings. Instead of speaking, it released a series of thoughts, muddled by feelings of sadness: ominous signs in the shifting of the sands, attack by some dark force under a starry sky, getting separated from others by the force of a powerful blast, being unable to reconnect to the group.

“Oh dear, um, could you please speak up?” Chi asked, putting her small limbs near her ear holes. “I don't speak often with telepathy.”

“Sorry,” the Beldum said, sort of. It was still using telepathy, as nothing of its body moved save for a shifting of its eye. But instead of broad thoughts, it was aiming at the parts of her mind that interpreted speech. “We can't speak otherwise and we mostly speak like that.”

She bowed to that (since with her body, she couldn't nod). “I see. What happened to you?”

“Our swarm got attacked last night, by a force that we don't understand,” it said. “We had warnings, but were unsure of how to interpret the omens. Bad times are ahead. But for now, we,” its telepathy seemed to stammer for a moment, then the Beldum drooped downward. “Sorry, I am unable to find my swarm. I am not used to being alone, or even thinking alone. I do not know what to do.”

Chi gave a sad ring in sympathy. “That sounds bad. I have not seen any other Beldums today. But, I am searching the Golden Desert anyhow, so why don't you come with me? If they have not come across you yet, you may as well start looking too. Would they leave the desert?”

“Not at this time.” It flexed one of its fingers, but only a feeling of gratitude told Chi what that motion meant. “Thank you for letting me follow. It is better to be with an outsider than to be fully alone. What are you searching for?”

“A mystery dungeon, in particular the Tower of Saith,” she explained, hopping back up to keep traveling. The Beldum floated after her. “I'm looking for a treasure that's supposed to be there. I believe it will help me with my bigger quest.”

“The Tower of Saith has many treasures, but one may only take one of them out, ever,” the Beldum said. “If you choose to go looking for it, you must be certain that the one you take is the one you would want to keep. There are also accursed false treasures within the tower; if you try to take one of them, you will be turned into a jewel to be trapped there until a certain time of the year.”

“I've done my research, and I'm certain.” She looked over at it. “Do you know where the dungeon is? That is the only thing I could not find out in the books I read.”

It made a slow blink. “That is knowledge which I was entrusted to keep within my swarm. As you are certain of yourself and aware of the danger, we are allowed to tell you. I will show you; it will be this way.” The Beldum floated ahead and turned left.

Chi changed directions and followed it, smiling. “Thank you! It seems it was lucky for both of us that I found you. Let's keep an eye out for your swarm.”

“I will find their thoughts and know when we are close, but yes,” the Beldum said.

Although the trek to the Tower of Saith took a couple more hours, they neither saw nor felt anything of the Beldum swarm. The lone Beldum was stoic about it now. Apparently any company was enough to calm it down. In time, they came to a formation of eight stone monoliths, spread in a wide circle around an open area. Nothing was growing in that patch of yellow sand. The Beldum led Chi to the eastmost monolith, then attached its hooks to an indent near the top.

The sand in the middle of the formation shook, then parted as a stone building rose out from underground. It matched the monoliths, all made of stones from the Golden Desert, polished to smooth brilliance. Large arched openings were on all four levels; some mechanism was forcing sand to spill out of the building, making it pile up against the tower further. Then the sand got flung aside to reveal the largest opening, the entrance to the tower. There were some stone stairs coming down from it, but much of them were buried in the sand piles.

Chi looked up at it. “It's... not as big as I thought it would be. Only four levels?”

“That is correct,” the Beldum said, detaching itself from the monolith. “If we pass the first level, we are deemed worthy to pick one treasure each. Come.” It floated into the Tower, so Chi followed.

The first level was one open room, filling the whole space of the tower save for one wall that held two staircases, one up and one down. Despite being drained, there was still a coating of sand on the floor. Once they were both in, the entrance and the stairwells were gated off with steel bars. A shadowy form appeared in the center of the room, its outline like a mishmash of Pokemon: Chi thought she saw a Meganium's head-leaf, a Sandshrew's body, a Fearow's wings, a Raticate's feet, a Furret's tail... if that was even right. The two of them fought and defeated the strange creature.

Once it was gone, a second appeared to fight them, a different mishmash Pokemon. Then two more. “This doesn't seem too bad,” Chi said. “But it must get harder, or else more would be able to get the treasures here.”

“It does escalate,” the Beldum said as three more forms appeared.

The next round was five, making it hard for the two of them to fight through. Then eight, and then thirteen! With so many foes against the two of them, it was a real struggle to take them down. Especially for the Beldum, as it seemed to have quite reckless moves. The Chingling had to give it some of her berries so that it did not faint and make them fail the challenge. “So the next is, twenty-one?” Chi asked, gasping a little. She had cleared monster houses before, but nothing like this.

After a minute of quiet, the steel gates parted. “Thank the spirits it does not go further for two visitors,” the Beldum said. “There should be no more battles from this point on, unless some other natives have snuck in. But I doubt that.” They headed up the stairs.

“What's in the basement?” Chi asked, glancing down those stairs. But it was dark.

“It should be nothing but the mechanism for raising and lowering the tower,” the Beldum said. “But then, none of us have been down there personally. We just know what we have been told: it is unnecessary to go down there unless there is a problem with hiding or revealing the tower.”

“Unnecessary, maybe, but it might be interesting to see such a device.”

The second level held many many jewels. Were they Pokemon that had taken the wrong treasures? They weren't shaped like Pokemon, but still, there were so many of them. Even if they were actual jewels, Chi didn't trust them. They were probably part of the cursed items. She told the Beldum so and they went to the third level.

Here, there were more jewels, but also a number of accessories and other things. Some of them were oddly normal, what one would find in other dungeons. Others were more exotic, like no other she had seen. But none were what Chi was looking for, so she moved to the next floor.

“You are greatly focused,” the Beldum said.

“I know that I have to be in a place like this,” she said. “It tries to trick us in any way it can. That's how it is, right?”

It did a slow blink again. “Correct. It will even present a normal item to make you think it was a safe choice, but it is not. Many jewels that are here are nothing but common rocks. Only the treasures it alone can produce are safe to take from the Tower of Saith.”

“Why is it that way?”

“We think it is because Saith liked to play dangerous games with other Pokemon when it was alive. Thus anything of Saith's legacy will do the same.”

On the fourth level, there were thirteen pedestals surrounded by piles of unusual items, gold coins, and precious jewels. On each of the pedestals, there was a colored orb. The trick she had learned from the books was to look for with a small crystal orb matching the larger orb on the pedestal nearest to it. There were some other items that were safe to take, presumably on lower levels, but the most powerful artifacts were the ones connected to this orb riddle. Knowing what she wanted, Chi went straight for a white orb and searched the area around its pedestal.

“Here it is,” she said, lifting up an item marked by a small white orb on its handle. The silver-white handle was shaped like down feathers, delicate and fluffy around a thin crosspiece. There was a red silk cloth around the other end, formed to fit the thin shaft of the weapon precisely. When she gingerly slid the cloth casing back, a small white blade was revealed. It was the perfect size and weight for her; but then, it was an enchanted sword that always was the size it needed to be.

“That is what you want?” the Beldum asked.

“Yes,” she said, sliding the cloth case back over the blade. “This sword can cut through anything, except for silk cloth and its partner shield. Silk thread, yes, as well as most cloths, but not silk cloth. And if it crosses with the shield, the bearer who has the strongest heart will win out.”

The Beldum twisted its eye about. “It is also a dangerous thing, even to its user.”

She bowed. “I know. But, there is another Chingling who has gotten the enchanted shield Saith made. He is using it to cause trouble and keep anyone from stopping him. He's giving a bad name to us Chinglings, as well as hurting many Pokemon. And, he knows the weaknesses of the shield. It will take someone wielding this sword to stop him for good. After that, I may never need to use this sword again. But I may; we will see what the future brings.” She attached the sword to her treasure bag, then turned to the Beldum. “Should we go find your swarm? Or did you want a treasure for yourself?”

“I have no need for what is here,” it replied. “But I have proven my worth. If it comes to be that one of these things can defeat the dark force that attacked us, then we will come to claim it as my right.”

“Yes, that would be smart. I wonder what did attack you. Mind if I ask the others of your swarm some questions?”

“We should be willing if you return me.”

Since she had seen no Beldums on her way in, they went further into the Golden Desert after hiding the Tower of Saith once again. They traveled until evening with no luck, but then the Beldum sensed them. As they approached, Chi began to feel their telepathy as well, as random quiet feelings and thoughts that passed through her mind. It was much bigger than a single Beldum, an oppressive feeling of Psychic power even though she was Psychic herself. But right as she started to feel like it might give her a headache, the telepathy backed off. Presumably, the one she knew had asked the others to be mindful of her.

Then they appeared. It was an amazing sight; there had to be over a hundred Beldums in the swarm. However, they all moved in unison, each turning and shifting precisely like the rest. They didn't even feel like a hundred minds gathered together and sharing thoughts. They felt like one giant mind, working as a whole.

“That is the correct assessment of us,” the Beldum swarm said. “We are ever together as one. We came back together as one. However, you are no longer a part of the one.”

“I am not?” the Beldum she knew said. Chi couldn't tell it apart from the rest, save for the fact that it was not moving as the rest were. “But I am meant to be part of us. Being alone was terrifying.”

“We know,” the swarm replied. “But you started to think of yourself as singular. You traveled with one not of the swarm and became disassociated. You would not be able to rejoin the swarm.”

“We didn't travel together for long, only a few hours of today,” Chi said. “Why would you hurt one of your own like this?”

The swarm disagreed. “It cannot be helped. You both spent long enough together for it to disassociate. While it will be sad for all, it will be counterproductive to attempt reintegration. Child of the swarm, we wish you the best in your search for your single identity.”

“I do not know how to live alone,” the Beldum said.

Was it her fault that this Beldum could no longer be a part of its swarm? Chi felt bad about doing that. But then, the answer presented itself quickly. “I can help you,” she said. “You became disassociated by traveling with me, so it is only right that I stick with you while you try to find yourself.”

“You're a noble Pokemon, Chi,” it said. “Thank you. I will do my best, trying to be myself.”

“But first, we need you to give us the knowledge entrusted to you,” the Beldum swarm said. “In return, we will give you what knowledge we have in living alone. There is some kept with us. And do not be sad. It is said that when one leaves the swarm to be an individual, one learns the secrets to our true potential.”

“Certainly.” the Beldum floated into the presence of its former swarm, silently exchanging the knowledge.

Thinking of something, Chi rang her bell orb. “Before we go, if you do not mind... this one told me that you had seen a strange omen, and then were attacked by a dark force. Would you tell us what you know of it? When the two of us get back into town, we can see if anyone there knows about it.”

“That would be of great service to us,” the swarm said. “We will let you know what we know.”

-+-

Later that night, it was just Chi and the lone Beldum. They made a camp near the shelter of a boulder and shared some dinner. “You know, you're going to need your own name by the time we get back to town,” she said.

The Beldum twisted its eye. “I will?”

She bowed. “Yes. After all, I need to introduce you to my other friends and allies.” Chi smiled at her new partner.

“My own name.” It floated around. “That is truly the mark of my being independent. The swarm had no name.”

“What would you want to be called?”

The Beldum paced around mid-air, considering it. “I think... I should be called Saith.”

“Are you sure?” Chi asked. “After all, you said that the old Saith was trouble.”

“True. But, the Tower of Saith is how I met you.”

And so it was that Chi and Saith became partners.

...

Chingling Diamond entry: It emits cries by agitating an orb at the back of its throat. It moves with flouncing hops.

Emerald entry: When Beldum gather in a swarm, they move in perfect unison as if they were but one Pokemon. They communicate with each other using brain waves.

Pokedex OS- Still trying to capture every single Pokemon out there in words: 648/718 Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh complete!

Thanks! I now have White 2 as well as an older game I've wanted for years (Rhapsody), so I'm really happy. As for this entry, I'm kinda glad that Swanna got moved elsewhere. These two alone were a puzzle to put together.

It was a fine autumn evening when the forest was just beginning to show signs of shifting to its more colorful form. Some overeager trees were already bright yellow or orange, while others were barely starting to turn. As the sun rays still pierced through the lush canopy, there was still a large amount of activity from the local Pokemon. It was the time to prepare nests and food stores for winter.

And leaf piles if one was a Swadloon. One such Pokemon was in a maple tree, nipping off one small branch. Then he grabbed it and pulled it close to examine the eight leaves it held. They were all still green. Feeling his stomach murmur, he wondered if he should eat them or preserve them for later use. The various leaf stashes he had around these trees were getting stuffed with leaves that he had put a coating on, so that they stayed green and pliable through the winter. As the leaves were turning, it was almost time to stop gathering; other-colored leaves wouldn't keep as well as green. He had to have loads of leaves to get through winter, though.

As the breeze kicked up, the Swadloon shivered. It was going to be a cold night. In that case, it was better to add these leaves to his current cloak. Maybe eating one. As he ate the first one, he started spinning up some silk to sew with. Then he carefully pulled the other seven leaves off the branch and began stitching them in place.

A group of Pokemon flew by. He thought at first that it was a bunch of Woobats, which was odd enough. But as he looked up on hearing music, he noticed that there were a few Swoobats as well. Sometimes the Woobats would appear during the night, flying out from their cave homes to hunt insects, and even Bug Pokemon like himself. They were something to be cautious of, although a show of strength was often enough to drive them to hunt something weaker. However, he recalled some Pokemon saying that it was a troubling omen to see Swoobats flying around singing.

He didn't remember why that was so. Because of that, he figured it had to be some silly rumor. The Swadloon relaxed and went back to his sewing. He even whistled a little as he thought on how snug he'd be with this cloak of leaves around him.

Once he got done with that, he walked along the branch to find some leaves to preserve and take back to one of his stashes. One leaf pile wasn't as stuffed as the others, so he could take a branch there to work. Before he could find a set of leaves he liked, two of the Swoobats flew into his tree, chasing one another. “Oh hey, this is good,” one said, causing them both to start hovering in the maple tree's branches. “Good evening, snack!”

The Swadloon huffed and shook his leaf cloak. “I'm not going to be your snack.”

“That's fine, because I don't like snacks with attitude,” the other Swoobat said. “Can't take the heat.” Then she laughed.

“Now there's no need to be sassy,” the first Swoobat, apparently a male, said. He swung his tail and made a bouncy mid-air dance. “I was just playing around with this lovely lady and I said that all Pokemon had to agree that she was beautiful. She says I’m just toying with her, but I'm right, right? You think she's beautiful too. Say it!”

The Swadloon looked at the female Swoobat and thought about it. Her dark blue fur was in remarkably nice shape despite being naturally fluffy. Instead of going at all angles like the male's fur, hers flowed in neat lines and was free of knots and mats. And she looked healthy, as far as the Swadloon could tell. But it didn't feel natural saying that something that might hunt him for food was beautiful.

However, he didn't feel too concerned about being eaten. “It's not really my place to say, but if I may, you are like a lovely angel of the dark,” the Swadloon sang. Sang? His eyes widened as he continued, “Though I would really like to ask, why must I sing for this task?”

The male Swoobat laughed and flew closer to him. “Don't question the music! Come on and move it! Everyone come in on my mark and we'll sing to my angel of the dark.”

At that call, a bunch of Pokemon popped into the maple tree and joined in on the spontaneous musical number. There were other Swadloons who had dried seed pods to shake or curled leaves to use as woodwinds. A Simisage had some rocks to bang to keep the beat while a grouping of Pidoves became a chorus. For a moment, the Swadloon wondered if everyone had gone nutty. But as the male Swoobat began crooning, it was hard to resist joining in the song with a smile.

“It's been a wonder that you've joined us,” the Swadloon sang, just singing whatever came into his head. “And it would be a blessing if you didn't eat us. But you are quite the sight to see, with fur the color of the midnight sea. I really don't know how to sing, but your looks make we want to take wing. O lovely angel of the night, I shall ever more remember this sight.”

And then the dancing began. Neither the first Swadloon nor the other participants knew what to do, but they found themselves hopping from branch to branch, kicking legs, turning around, and swaying in well-timed precision. But the most active dancer had to be the male Swoobat, careening around and doing tricks despite the limited space he had to work with between the branches. He flew around the female Swoobat, eventually getting her to giggle and dance around in the air with him. Their happiness was infectious, leaving the other Pokemon to not care anymore and just keep dancing or playing their instruments.

“You silly and sneaky smarmy bat,” the female cooed in teasing tones. “You make a good show of that. But I must know: how long would you stay by my side? Or would you go fly off after one of the others after this night?”

“Lovely angel, I will stay as long as you like,” the male said, letting go of the song. The other Pokemon looked around puzzled, then headed off to what they had been doing before. “Now what of the snack? You may take him.”

The Swadloon, looked around, still in a happy daze. Why had the music gone away? That had been kind of fun. Perhaps he needed to sing and dance more often.

The female Swoobat looked at the Swadloon, then flew out of the tree. “Let him be; he gave us an entertaining distraction. You may have proven your power, but you still need to prove your worth.”

“But I will stay with you!” the male Swoobat said, taking off after her.

A couple minutes later, the Swadloon was able to clear his head from the weird musical feeling. It was getting dark and the temperature was falling. “So that's why they say to avoid the singing Swoobats, because you might end up having to sing along to save your life.” He shivered at recalling how he had been, too happy to avoid being eaten. But with that danger past, he had to focus on the coming danger of cold and the winter. The Swadloon kept checking over the tree for leaves to add to his cloak or stashes.

But now any time he heard a song coming close, he went to hide.

…

Swadloon White entry: It protects itself from the cold by wrapping up in leaves. It stays on the move, eating leaves in forests.

Swoobat White entry: Anyone who comes into contact with the ultrasonic waves emitted by a courting male experiences a positive mood shift.

Pokedex OS- Still trying to capture every single Pokemon out there in words: 648/718 Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh complete!

That made me smile, it was adorable! I wanted to hug Swadloon for no reason. Maybe just because they look so sad ingame. And considering I fell face-first into concrete and ended up with a bloody face, this was a nice addition to my day. Yay for alliterated entries!

I have discovered what a signature is.

This is Bidoof. Many people loathe it with their lives. If you are of the few people who love this little beaver, put this in your sig. Started by Warrior Scolipede